TITLE:                Only Say Good Things AUTHOR           Crystal Hefner GENRE:             Memoir RATING:           4 stars It is very hard to give this book a rating. I do admire the author's honesty, even when she does not come out looking all that great.  Her writing is friendly and very engaging - loved her writing style, which is why this is a 4 star rate for me. I know that this is mentioned all the time, but ..read more

  Thank you to Douglas & Mcintyre for the e-copy of this book TITLE:      Here with you AUTHOR:  Kathy Wagner GENRE:    Memoir RATING: 5 Stars I read a LOT of addiction/recovery books, except that this book is a about addiction - period. I have never read a memoir focusing so much on what an addiction does to the people around the addict. Sure, this is always given a chapter or two in most memoir on this subject, but with this one, while the addict's issues are detailed, the equivalent timeline focused on the addict's family and friends. I also loved h ..read more

  TITLE:            After the Wedding AUTHOR:      Eileen Gibb GENRE:          Memoir RATING:        4 stars This book brought out so many feelings for me. First off, I want to say that this man was a despicable barely human. Unfortunately, during that time period, "man" was still considered so much  higher than women and this comes through clearly in the book.  I kept having to remind myself that the generations were different then,  not to say that family violence does not exi ..read more

  Tina has completed her goal of reading 37 books in 2023!37 of 37 (100%) Finished! I realized that I actually had more reading time when I worked - between the bus and the metro rides and reading during my lunch, I use to get through a lot more books than I do now that I am not working. Also, I find myself so picky and I, at some time, started gravitating towards non fiction a lot more. I am going to set 39 books for 2024 and hopefully I will get there. After doing the Goodreads Reading Challenge for several years, I realize that reading 37 books in a year is not that big of a ..read more

TITLE:                Swarm AUTHOR:          Jennifer D. Lyle GENRE:             YA horror/thriller RATING:           I usually give a max of 5 stars - but this one is 10 stars First, I want to thank Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an e-galley of this book. I wish I could rate this as a 10 stars. It is SO GOOD. I could not put it down - seriously, people say that all the time, but I dragged my tablet all around the house, taking even a few minutes of downtime to ..read more

TITLE:           Behind the Door AUTHOR:      Amy Price GENRE:         Non fiction RATING:        5 stars Thank you William Morrow for sending me an e copy of this book. I loved it. I thought Price did a great job of focusing on her day to day view of the hotel and it's colorful tenants. Basically, this book pretty much screams "the Cecil is more than just creepy happenings". I really enjoyed the history of the hotel and reading about other tenants. I discovered the Cecil when I ..read more

TITLE:             I Married a Thrill Seeker AUTHOR:       Danielle Kaplan GENRE:         Memoir RATING:        5 stars I was on social media, and this author popped up. I read the small description of her book, with interest, but the word "novel" was used, so I emailed the author to clarify if this was, indeed, a memoir. She literally answered me 30 seconds after my initial question confirming that it was a memoir. I headed to Amazon. I bought it and read it in 3 days. It's su ..read more

  Thank you wonderful Simon & Schuster and Adams Publicity Marketing for sending me a hard copy of this book.  I love it. TITLE:            Glow Up Journal AUTHOR:       Danielle Richardson GENRE:           Self-help RATING:          5 Stars Years ago, I took a test geared towards determining my strength and weaknesses.  I was surprised to learn that I am VERY goal oriented. At first, I did not agree, but over the years I see how much reaching goals matters to me, b ..read more

  Thank you to Berkley for sending me an e-copy of this book to read and review. TITLE:                        The Fraud Squad AUTHOR:                    Kyla Zhao GENRE:                       Debut fiction RATING:                      3.5 stars This book is interesting.  I knew nothing of Singapore and we get to find out what Singapore high society lo ..read more

  TITLE:        Remainders of the Day AUTHOR:  Shaun Bythell GENRE:     Memoir RATING:    4 stars This book will be released in December 2022 This is the third book I have read by this author and honestly, I always have a love/hate relationship with his books. I owned a used bookstore for 4 years and although it was not an antiquarian shop, I certainly got a lot of experience owning and working in a bookstore. Now, I am sorry I did not keep a diary of my time. The best parts of this book, for me, are always the (too brief!) descrip ..read more